Henry, however, in his own declaration, never refers to a portrait. He entered into the marriage, he said, “because I heard so much both of her excellent beauty and virtuous conditions.” In addition, he told Sir Anthony Browne, “I see nothing in this woman as men report of her, and I mervail that wise men would make such report as they have done.” He also told Cromwell, in reply to his question as to how he liked the lady, “Nothing so well as she was spoken of; if I had known as much before as I know now, she should never have come into the realm. But what remedy?” After all, however, the praises of her sent home by Henry’s ambassadors were not very hearty ones. In Hutton’s letter from Brussels, already quoted,[385] written shortly after Jane Seymour’s death, in answer to a request that he would search for a possible bride for the King at the Court of the Regent, he reported, among other princesses, that “the Dewke of Clevis hathe a daughter, but I here no great preas neyther of hir personage nor beawtie.” Wootton’s account, given above, is a remarkably cautious one, and lays most stress on Anne’s domestic virtues. He had also complained that he had found it impossible to judge of the personal appearance of the two ladies on account of the ugly head-dresses they wore. Footnote 385: See p. 116. Had the fault been Holbein’s, he would, no doubt, have fallen under the King’s displeasure. At the least his appointment would have been taken from him, even if he had not been forced to leave England; but the contrary was the case. In September, after his return from Cleves, he received, for a second time, a whole year’s salary in advance. This was, of course, before the King had seen the original of the portrait; but, strangely enough, if the accounts are to be believed, in addition to this year’s advance, Holbein continued to receive his salary every quarter day for the next year, so that he was paid twice over.[386] It is thus very evident that the painter suffered no disgrace or lack of employment or patronage, so that the legend must be abandoned. Footnote 386: See p. 190. [Sidenote: PORTRAIT OF ANNE OF CLEVES]